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18 April 2025
Issue: 8113 / Categories: Legal News , Arbitration , ADR , International , Commercial
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NLJ this week: Predictions & latest developments in international arbitration

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What does the rest of 2025 have in store for international arbitration, and what are the key takeaways from 2024? Thomas R Snider, partner and head of international arbitration, Dalal Alhouti, knowledge development lawyer, and Robin Hayden, trainee solicitor, at Charles Russell Speechlys, set out the salient events in this week’s NLJ.

Snider, Alhouti and Hayden cover caselaw, agreements and practical developments in the field, before setting out five predictions for the year ahead.

The authors highlight, for example, that ‘self-executing “smart contracts” are increasingly likely to include arbitration provisions; however, where the agreement to arbitrate is written in code rather than natural language, we can expect to see enforcement challenges questioning whether such an agreement is “in writing”’.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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